Fur, Not Fangs
by mmooch
Summary: The 'monster' to win the Buffy's heart has a furry side, not a demonic one.
1. Chapter 1: Reptile Boy

**Fur, Not Fangs**

Summary: The 'monster' to win the Buffy's heart has a furry side, not a demonic one.

Warning: Sorry Bangel lovers and Willz fans; ain't gonna happen in my story. Hopefully doesn't rise to the level of Angel-bashing, but isn't Angel-friendly.

Timeline: Season 2, AU _'Reptile Boy'_. Oz didn't notice Willow in _'Inca Mummy Girl'_. He was too focused on his guitar strings. That's my version and I'm very happy with my delusions.

A/N: personal request by gopher101 for a Buffy/Oz fic. As well as a b-day gift to zigpal.

Thanks to my betas: AerynSpeedleCaine and zigpal.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission. Any dialogue paraphrased from .

**Chapter 1: Reptile Boy**

Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne looked up from his guitar when he saw a flash of blonde hair at the back of the room. There was that girl again. He'd noticed her around before. Devon said her name was Buffy or something. He didn't seem to have that great of an opinion of her, but Oz guessed that was because Devon probably hit on her and she turned him down. Not too many girls did that to his bandmate. All that did was increase Oz's opinion of her.

He watched as she talked to the two head fraternity guys, Tom and Richard. Just as they were finishing up their first set, Oz saw Richard grab a cup of punch and drop something in it. The look the guy shot across the room at Buffy made Oz very uneasy. He hurried over to the table as fast as he could without arousing suspicions.

While he engaged Richard in some inane conversation about the frat house's sound system, he switched cups so that he had the drugged one. Then he patted Richard on the back and made his getaway. He watched as Tom brought the drink over to the unsuspecting Buffy and she took a sip.

Standing where he could keep an eye on Buffy, Oz considered his options. When Tackle came to grab Tom and Richard so they could deal with a crasher, Oz slipped over to Buffy, who had gone outside for some fresh air.

"Hey," he said, tapping her on the shoulder.

Buffy turned to look at the new guy, hoping it wasn't yet another frat brother coming to hit on her. Tom wasn't so bad, but some of these guys… Man, they made her wish they were demons so she could slay them. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw somebody who clearly wasn't a sheep, not realizing that she did it audibly.

His expression became a bit of a smirk in response, but his eyes were still sweet. Whoa, where did that thought come from? She was just here to punish Angel for being wishy-washy, not to actually _like_ someone. "Hey back. You're in the band, aren't you?" she asked to stop her line of thinking from going any further. Who knows, he might have a girlfriend anyway.

Oz glanced around to make sure nobody could overhear their conversation before he started stammering – an extreme oddity for him, "Yeah. Name's Oz. Uh, listen. Here's the thing…I know that when weird things go on, you're usually around somewhere to keep them from getting too bad, and if this is one of those times, then I apologize for butting in." Whew, he wasn't used to this talking so much thing; something about her though…

Clearly she didn't have a clue what he was trying to tell her. "What are you talking about?" she demanded confusedly.

So this _wasn't_ one of those things she took care of. He pointed to her drink as he explained, "Those guys slipped something in your drink. I managed to switch glasses with them, but you might want to be careful about any other drinks they give you."

Buffy felt like throwing her hands up in the air and screaming at the utter unfairness of her life. Even when she tried to ditch her 'duty', it still managed to bite her in the ass somehow. "Huh. Guess this means I'm not off the clock tonight."

"Sorry," Oz said with a genuine look of regret for her. Still, he couldn't help but be a _little_ happy he had an excuse to come talk to her. Now he knew that Devon just had a case of sour grapes where Buffy was concerned.

She gave him a smile – sort of a mix of friendly and grateful. "No. Thanks for the save. It's my own fault for trying to have a normal night with normal guys. I'm Buffy, by the way."

"I know. Why should you settle for normal?" he threw back with a raised eyebrow. He heard Devon call his name from the front door and started to turn back to the house. "I'd better get back. Be careful, 'k?"

Surprised at her reluctance to let him leave, Buffy gave him another smile, this time one of her 'mega-watt' smiles. "Will do. Thanks again."

"See you around," he said, the hopeful tone clear to even somebody as dense as the Slayer could be sometimes when it came to members of the opposite sex. It was a statement, but he said it almost like a question…like an invitation or something.

She couldn't stop the blush from rising in her cheeks as she nodded back, "You bet."

When she got back inside, Buffy looked around for Cordy and watched the brunette stumble up the stairs. She figured her best chance to catch these guys red-handed was to go along with their plan. As she made her way towards the staircase, she made sure that she weaved and looked properly drunk. But she gave Oz a quick glance so that he'd know she was in control. He gave a slight nod back, guessing that she was going to do her thing again.

Once she found Cordy passed out in a room, Buffy quickly found a phone to let Willow know what was going on, but that she was in control for now. Willow said Buffy had 30 minutes before she was calling reinforcements to come help – despite the awkwardness that would be caused. She was about to add something when Buffy heard somebody about to come in and hissed her goodbye before quietly hanging up and making it look like she passed out on the bed.

The blonde Slayer fought the urge to rip Richard's arm off when he came in and started fondling her. The sleaze was going to molest them? Well, there was always the first time for it to _not_ be a supernatural baddie. Oh, she was gonna make him hurt – human or not.

The thought about this being non-Slayery went straight to hell when Tom came in and announced that they were meant for somebody else. The way he said it made Buffy think he wasn't talking about the fraternity president. All that '…for the one we serve' crap Tom was spouting. And she thought he was a decent guy!

Sure enough, she and Cordy were dragged downstairs and chained up on the wall.

Since they all thought Buffy and the other girls were helpless, they didn't pay too close of attention to her. She carefully pulled against the chain holding her in place. When she felt it start to give, she waited for the right time to pull it completely loose.

Just then, Cordy woke up and started blaming _her_ for getting them into this mess. Yeah, like it was Buffy's idea to get mixed up with college guys. Sure, she was the idiot who went along with it because Angel was being all standoffish, but it was Cordy's sleaze of a boyfriend who drugged them. They watched as the frat guys did their little ritual to call the snake demon thing, Machida.

When nobody was watching her, Buffy gave her chains a final yank to free herself. Before she could help the other girls, the guys moved to attack her. This was where the chains actually came in handy; she was able to use them as a weapon to knock the slimeballs out. Once she knocked Tom down, she took the sword he was holding and used it to cut through the chains that held the other two girls.

Her distraction almost cost her though. It gave Machida an opportunity to slither up behind her and wrap her in those scaly arms of his, forcing her to drop the sword. She felt his hot breath on her neck and drove her head back as hard as she could into his. The pain and shock caused him to loosen his grip, and she pulled free, picking up the sword as she did. Then she turned around and swung, not really caring which part she hit, as long as she hit something. The black blood that spurted from both Machida's head and body made her shiver in disgust before she looked at her fellow sacrifices to make sure they were okay.

As she did, they heard a scuffle upstairs, then footsteps thundering towards them. Buffy pushed Cordy and the other girl behind her in case it was another attack. She breathed a sigh of relief to see Willow, Giles, Xander and Angel racing to help. Guess it was more than 30 minutes…or Willow panicked and blabbed. Right now, Buffy didn't really care which it was, as long as it meant she didn't have to fight anyone else and they could leave.

But first, she had to get past her Watcher. He was standing there with a stern look on his face and seemingly ready to go into full lecture mode about her lack of responsibility. Willow and Xander grabbed Tom to lead him out of the basement while Cordy attached herself to Angel's side like a leech. Ooo, bad mental image there! The pair followed the others, leaving her alone with Giles and a bunch of unconscious guys.

She started towards him and allowed her own face to show her shame for her actions. "I told one lie; took one night off – although in the end, not off so much. I'm sorry for lying," Buffy finished, staring at her shoes.

His expression instantly changed to one of more understanding, and he used his fingers to tip her chin so she was looking at him. "I'm sorry I made you. I know the sort of dangers you have to face; that's why I push you so hard. However, if I don't let you have something to live for, all I'll manage to do is drive you to an early grave. I'd rather not go through that nightmare again for a very long time. So from now on, I'll stopping prodding you…maybe just stick to an inordinate amount of nudging. How does that sound?"

Buffy beamed at him. "Perfect, Watcher-mine." She took his offered arm as they walked up the stairs together. "Oh, I did meet a guy tonight. He's the one who switched the drinks for me so I didn't get drugged like Cordy. He doesn't know about me being the Slayer…exactly, but does know that sometimes I take care of bad situations. Not sure if he thinks I'm a vigilant or something."

"I believe you meant vigilante," Giles corrected. "So I take it you weren't wearing your button that said 'I'm a Slayer, ask me how!'?" he teased.

"Funny. Just for that, I won't pull my punches in training tomorrow," she threatened.

**The Bronze**

**Couple nights later…**

Putting her drink down, Buffy finished reciting why she was allowed to join them, "…So Giles actually encouraged me to come hang out with you guys tonight – as long as I promised to do a sweep later."

"That's great!" Willow exclaimed. "Does this mean no more lying to Giles? Please? 'Cause it was horrible trying to keep him from calling you the other night."

Buffy's expression turned teasing. "Yeah, he told me about the scolding you gave him and Angel. Said it made him feel about 3 feet tall."

"Really? Cool!" Willow leaned over so Xander wouldn't hear the next part and make a snarky comment. "Speaking of Angel, when he found out you were in trouble, he went all 'grrr'. It was really sweet – in a scary sort of way."

Before Buffy could answer Willow, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Oz standing there. "Déjà vu."

"All over again," Oz finished. When she gave him a blank look, he explained, "It's a saying. Listen, the band's on a break right now, so I was wondering if you'd like to dance with me?"

Glancing at her friends to be certain they didn't mind, Buffy took his hand and stood up. "Uhh, sure."

When they got out onto the dance floor, Oz started with, "So, I see you're doing okay. Saw the news about the fraternity."

Buffy moved her arms to a more comfortable position. Dancing with somebody almost her height was different from other guys; not bad, just different. "Yeah, thanks again for the save. I'd hate to think about what might have happened if I hadn't been awake the whole time," she said with a shudder.

He tightened his grip slightly, then asked, "Will I ever be able to get the full story from you?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted. Then she decided he deserved some kind of explanation. "It's not that I'm not grateful for your help, or that you aren't a great guy – which from the first thing makes me think you are – but my secret isn't exactly a safe one to know. Not just for me, but for you, too."

"Ahh. Does that mean I can't ask you out either?" Oz whispered in her ear, sending the nicest shivers down her spine.

She stuttered, "Like on a date?"

Oz had to admit that it felt good to fluster her, but he didn't want to scare her off. "That's generally the plan. But if you'd rather keep it casual, it can just be a 'friends hanging out' deal instead."

"Let's try that one to start with," Buffy answered with a sigh of relief. "The last guy I tried to date got too excited about the danger that is my life."

"Then hanging out it is. Should we start with lunch tomorrow at school?" he asked as the song was heading into its final chorus.

She nodded. "Sounds great."

Seeing his bandmate glaring at him from near the stage, Oz pulled back a little. "Oops, Devon's giving me the evil eye. Either the band's about to go back on, or he's upset that you're dancing with me."

Buffy turned to see who he was looking at. Oh, _that_ guy! She rolled her eyes at the memory. "Why? What did I ever do to him?"

Oz just shrugged in reply, "Turned him down. His male pride is all hurt."

Like that was the first time it ever happened to him. Now Buffy was a bit annoyed at the guy for holding a grudge. "Well, he shouldn't have called me 'babe' then. He's lucky I didn't break something."

Not wanting to ruin the moment they had earlier, Oz interrupted her mini-rant with another smile. "I'll see you tomorrow, Buffy."

It worked 'cause she smiled back automatically. "'K. See you then, Oz."

Walking back to the table, Buffy couldn't help but compare Oz to her other sorta love interest. Angel's words to her a few nights ago kept ringing in her mind about how they could never have a future. She mainly accepted Tom's invitation to the frat because she was irritated with Angel. Oz, on the other hand, seemed like somebody she could genuinely like.

To be fair, Angel was probably right about everything he said; it was just the way he said it that pissed her off. Well, that and the fact he let her fall for him before he realized it was a bad idea. Couldn't he have figured that out earlier and saved her some heartache? So now she just had to work on putting him back into that box of 'annoying cryptic guy' and not 'tall, dark and romantic guy'.

When she sat down, Xander started sharing the news about all the bad things that happened to the members of the fraternity. Then Willow got back to the question of Angel and his romantic grrr-ness. As if his name conjured him, Angel appeared behind Xander just as the living brunette complained about his dead rival.

Ignoring Xander's comment, Angel only had eyes for Buffy. He gave her his best Angel-grin and said, "I hear this place, uh, serves coffee. I thought maybe you and I should get some. Sometime. If you want."

Buffy sighed exasperatedly in her mind. So he was back to interested again. She understood him blowing cold, 'cause, hello, he _was_ cold. But why/how was he doing the hot thing? A couple days ago, she would have been all over that invitation. Heck, even now it was a little tempting. Then she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Oz up on stage playing. As luck would have it, he looked up right then and caught her eye, giving her a small smile. That made her answer easier.

"I think maybe we should just stick to patrolling," she told him after pulling him away from the table to give them some privacy. "Even though you could have said it better, you were right about there being no 'us'. I can't keep doing this yo-yo thing with you where you go back and forth about whether we should be together or not. See ya later." She smiled sadly, then grabbed her bag from the table, telling the others good night before walking out.

A/N: Next…What happens if Oz became a werewolf sooner?


	2. Chapter 2: Phases

**Chapter 2: Phases**

A/N: Changing the order of season 2 episodes a little to suit my evil purposes.

Warning: Hopefully doesn't rise to the level of Angel-bashing, but it isn't Angel-friendly.

Challenge: personal request by gopher101 for a Buffy/Oz fic. As well as a b-day gift to zigpal.

Thanks to my betas:

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

**

* * *

**

Sunnydale High

A few weeks went by, reasonably quiet for Hellmouth standards, which gave Buffy and Oz a chance to get to know each other without slayage interfering. Once Willow got over her disappointment about no Buffy/Angel smoochies, she saw that Oz was much better for her best bud. Sure, there was the chance that he might turn out to be another Owen when he found out about Buffy, but he wasn't trying to involve himself yet in whatever it was she did every night after she left him.

Of course that meant the you-know-what had to hit the fan, Sunnydale-style. Cordy was showing Buffy, Giles and the Scoobies the damage to her dad's convertible while she was up on Lover's Lookout with Percy. Apparently some kind of creature attacked them while they were making out, and from Cordy's somewhat vague description, their best guess was a werewolf. And they made that guess verbally just as Oz walked up behind Buffy to surprise her.

And he surprised everyone when he spoke up, "Werewolf, huh?"

Turning to see her crush-type guy behind her, Buffy answered weakly, "Oz, hi! Umm, don't suppose you could pretend you didn't hear that, could you?"

He just shook his head. "Is this your secret gig?" Oz guessed.

Buffy just groaned. "Well, if you aren't going to block it out like everyone else, let's go to the library where we can be comfortable while Giles gives you the whole spiel."

Giving his Slayer a pointed look, Giles asked, "Do you really believe this is wise, Buffy?"

She shrugged helplessly. "He already has like 75% of the picture; might as well fill in the rest."

Giles handled the explanation while Buffy started looking through books on werewolves and the others went to class. The only reason Buffy stuck around was in case Oz had any other questions for her – or told her he didn't want to see her again…whichever happened. Buffy was crossing her fingers he wasn't going to be another Owen. Once Giles was done, he took the books Buffy had and went to his office to give them some privacy.

As soon as the door closed, Oz turned to Buffy. "So what now?"

She perched on the table in an attempt to appear casual about this. "That all depends on you. What do you want to happen?"

"This wasn't a complete surprise." He saw her raised eyebrow and clarified, "Well, the vampires, demons and Slayer part is, but I already knew you were helping people. Can I ask you one question?"

_Here it came._ Buffy nodded warily. "What's that?"

"Why are you dating me?" Before she could answer him, he continued, "I mean, you have this great important destiny to save the world, and what do I do? I play in a band that can't even master more than a few chords. Shouldn't you be with some guy who's heroic?"

Breathing a sigh of relief – at least temporarily – Buffy gave him a smile. "There's a problem with the heroic figures; they tend to either be standoffish or they have a part of themselves that desperately wants something normal to hold onto. You know, a personal reason to save the world. My family and friends are my reason; you are too."

Oz smiled back shyly. "I like being a reason. It's much better than being a raisin."

That made her giggle. "See, that's another I like about you – your odd sense of humor."

He moved to sit by her on the table. "Ahh, I get it now. You only want me for my stash of dry jokes," he said with mock-hurt.

Buffy just smirked at him slyly. "Well, if you ever kissed me, I may come up with another motive to keep you around."

"Hmm, I like the incentive." He started to lean in to give into her 'demand' when he remembered another thing he wanted to ask. Might as well deal with that first. "Before we get to that though, I'm guessing Xander and Willow help you out?"

"Yeah," Buffy answered cautiously.

Oz nodded. "I'm not sure how, but I'd like to help too. Based on what he…" He gestured to the office, "said, I couldn't help with the fighting. Maybe there's some other way I could help – like with the research or whatever. You need somebody to get the holy water or make your stakes?"

Remembering her bad luck in the past with helpful guys – at least some of them – Buffy had to know. "_Why_ do you want to help me?"

He knew he had to answer this right, so Oz tried to come up with the right words. "Because I kind of like you a lot, and would really like it if you stuck around for a lot longer. If making sure you had enough holy water to fill the school pool would do that, I'd drive to every Catholic church within a hundred miles."

"So this isn't some sort of adrenaline rush for you?" she checked, crossing her fingers.

Oz shrugged. "Can't really say I'm come across anything rush-worthy yet." He figured this was a sore spot with her and didn't want to risk losing her if he pushed, so he offered, "If you don't want me involved, I understand. It's got to be nerve-wracking having to worry about everyone's safety."

Apparently he found the right words after all. Buffy beamed at him. "You know what? You are the best almost boyfriend I've ever had!" she declared.

He liked _almost_ everything in that statement. "What can I do to get rid of the almost in that statement?"

"Kiss me?" she ordered softly.

Oz grinned and leaned in again. "Gladly," he answered before capturing her lips in a tender, yet passionate kiss.

**

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**

Buffy's bedroom

**Before patrol…**

That night Willow was practically bouncing on Buffy's bed. "So…spill! I need my vicarious smoochies! Were there smoochies involved, or do Xander and I have to go hurt the stupid guitar guy?"

Buffy looked up from her weapons locker and said with a silly grin on her face, "There will be no hurting of my _non_-stupid guitar _boyfriend_."

Willow squealed in excitement, "Does that mean there _were_ smoochies?"

Blushing furiously, Buffy sat on the bed with her best friend. "Uh-huh, very nice ones at that," she sighed happily.

"Details!" Willow ordered.

Turning on her side to look at Willow, Buffy told the redhead, "He explained that he wanted to help out – in a non-Owen-like fashion – 'cause he wanted me to be around longer. He was so cool about the whole thing that I couldn't help myself."

Willow's eyes bugged out. "_You_ kissed _him_?"

She shook her head. "Not exactly, but I gave him the big neon sign for 'go'." When Willow looked confused, Buffy explained, "I called him my almost boyfriend, and he asked how he could get rid of the almost, and I said that he could kiss me."

"Aww, and that led to the smoochies. Man, I'm so jealous!" Willow pouted, leaning back against the headrest.

Buffy scooted up so she was sitting next to her. "Ehh, we'll work on opening Xander's eyes to the goodness that is you."

Willow just scoffed, "And how will we manage that miracle?"

"We just have to show him you're a girl and not just a friend in a girl package." A wicked gleam entered Buffy's eyes as she came up with the perfect plan. "You know, Halloween's coming up and the right outfit would totally force him to acknowledge your girlness."

Nervous at that gleam, Willow started to backpedal, "I don't know. Wouldn't that like require an outfit that isn't me?"

"Do you want Xander to notice you or not?" Buffy demanded. "I'm not saying you have to go as Wonder Woman – although that might cause him to swallow his tongue – but showing off your bod just a little couldn't hurt. Just think about it, okay? I've got to go; Giles is waiting to go werewolf hunting with me."

"Good luck!" Willow called out, gathering her things so she could head home.

**

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**

Sunnydale High

**Next day…**

Buffy and Giles' hunting trip turned out to be a bust. She was trapped by a psycho hunter who wanted to kill the werewolf; then the werewolf got away from Buffy at the Bronze; and just as the sun was about to rise, they heard that Teresa had been killed – and the news thought it was tied to the animal attacks the night before. That meant Buffy was in a foul mood when she got to school.

Wrapping his somewhat shaky arms around his Slayer girlfriend, Oz inquired, "Hey Buff, what's the matter?"

"The werewolf got away from me last night and killed Teresa. Argh!" she growled in frustration. "Maybe Cain was right, and we should just kill it."

Oz tensed at her words, then realized there was something new he didn't know about. "Who's Cain?"

Buffy leaned back into her boyfriend's arms, needing his closeness right now. "He's a hunter who's after his twelfth werewolf kill."

Pulling away from her so he could look her in the eyes, Oz asked softly, "You really think he's right? What if the person didn't know they were a werewolf? And do you know for sure the werewolf killed Teresa?" he asked desperately. "I mean, there are a lot of other things around here that could do it."

Wondering why he was so uptight about this, Buffy shrugged as she answered, "Well, the news said- No, I guess we don't know until we've checked her body," she conceded before considering his other question and realized he was right. "And I don't really agree with Cain. He's way too creepy to agree with. You honestly think the person doesn't know?" she asked.

"I can guarantee it," Oz said after a few minutes of debating with himself about if this was a good idea or not. Ultimately, she was bound to find out sooner or later, though, and if she discovered he hid it from her… Well, that wouldn't be good.

"How?" She had the feeling he knew who it was and was worried she'd kill the person without giving them a chance.

Taking a deep breath, Oz admitted, "I think I'm the werewolf. Well, actually I kind of _know_ I'm the werewolf…now, anyway. I figured it out this morning when I woke up in the woods naked. Then I called my aunt to see if my cousin Jordy – the one who bit me – was a werewolf. Turns out he is; as is my uncle."

Buffy's nose wrinkled in confusion. "So it's hereditary?"

"Maybe. I don't know. What happens now?" Oz asked. His question covered a lot of things.

"Now we go to Giles and ask him. My guess is that he'll want to make sure you're locked up tonight…and probably every month from now on," she warned.

Oz expected that. If they hadn't insisted, he would have. "What about us? Is there still an us?"

"Of course there is!" she declared adamantly. "You really think this would make a difference?"

"Well, now I'm one of the monsters you hunt," Oz reminded her.

She shook her head. "No, you're not! You're my boyfriend who had a really crappy thing happen to him." They hadn't discussed Angel yet, and now seemed to be the perfect time to handle it. "Do you remember the party where we met? Do you know why I agreed to go to that stupid thing?"

"'Cause you had an overwhelming urge to get groped by college guys?" Oz inquired dryly.

Buffy rolled her eyes, then said, "No, because the guy I was crushing on didn't think it was a good idea to get personally involved with me; a guy who happens to be a vampire. Now, he has a soul, so he's not like the other vampires, but still…if there was ever an odd match up, it'd be him and me. As long as we're careful about keeping you out of trouble during your furry time, things are cool."

Oz felt the hand clenching his heart loosen. "And if I happen to get out?" he pushed.

"Then we find a non-killing way of taking you down. I refuse to kill my boyfriend." Buffy hugged him tightly.

Gladly returning the hug, Oz added, "Unless I'm about to kill somebody else. I don't want to be a murderer – even if it's not really me who does the killing."

Buffy wanted to stay in denial-land a little longer, so she brushed off the concern for now. "Let's talk to Giles and find a way for both of us to be happy, 'k?"

**

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**

Library

**That evening…**

Giles was watching over werewolf-Oz locked in the bookcage with his new tranq gun within reach in case the cage didn't hold him. How ironic that Buffy gave up on her interest in Angel, only to start dating a werewolf. The Watcher hoped this wouldn't turn out badly for his Slayer.

However, he had to admit he like young Oz considerably more than Angel. He shuddered; that relationship was wrong on so many levels, in his opinion. While Angel was a somewhat valuable ally from time to time, he was also rather unreliable about being available. Case in point, since Buffy made it clear that she wasn't interested in him anymore, they had only seen him once or twice.

He was broken out of his reverie by Buffy's voice, "Spike's back in town – if he ever left, that is."

Looking up in alarm, Giles asked, "You ran across him?"

Buffy sat down next to him heavily – well, for her anyway. "Nope, got a little present from him and Dru. Teresa wasn't killed by Oz – yay for that! She was turned by Spike so she could deliver a message to me for him. He sends 'his warmest regards'."

"That sounds ominous," Giles commented.

She chuckled mirthlessly. "Yeah, kinda strange. Guess that's what happens when it's said by an enemy and not a friend or acquaintance."

Giles studied her face and saw more than just Spike's return was bothering her. "Are you alright?"

"I feel horrible," Buffy admitted. "On the one hand, I'm so happy that it wasn't Oz, but on the other, she was killed because she knew me. We weren't even good friends, but Spike used her anyway. Of course, I wouldn't want him to use one of my good friends-"

Before she could finish that statement, Giles interjected, "I understand. All of your emotions are valid, Buffy. Sometimes the victories are bittersweet."

"Like dark chocolate." She pouted. "I don't like that either; give me the yummy goodness of sweet, milky chocolate anyday."

"Yes, well…" Giles started stammering, unsure of how to answer that.

Buffy giggled at the expression on his face. "Sorry, didn't mean to make your British mind slip its gears. So, how's Oz been?" she asked, looking over at the cage.

"Relatively quiet once he realized he couldn't break out of the cage." He looked at the werewolf more closely, then murmured, "Huh, that's interesting."

"What is?" she inquired, not seeing anything different from when she left earlier.

Giles got that Watcher look in his eyes; the one that said he found something intriguing to study. "He's watching you. Go walk over by the stacks; see if his gaze follows you."

"You're running experiments on my boyfriend? You aren't going to dissect him or anything, are you?" Giles just glared at her. "Fine. I'm walking. Hey, you're right. Wonder what this means."

"Something for us to research," he replied with the obvious answer.

Buffy sat back down and responded dully, "Yay! Just what we needed; more stuff to look up."

Glaring mildly at her, Giles asked pointedly, "Don't you want to know all you can about Oz's condition?"

She sighed in resignation. "You know I hate it when you use logic on me, right?"

Smirking back at her, he answered, "Consider it payback for making me listen to that noise you call music."

**

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**

Next day…

Buffy was waiting in the library when Oz turned back. As soon as he was dressed and out of the cage, she rushed over to give him a hug. "Good news, boyfriend-mine. Well, sort of good news anyway. You didn't kill Teresa; a vampire enemy of mine did. We thought he left town, but apparently he's still around. Oh, and I got rid of Cain by bending his gun."

"How dangerous is he?" Oz asked, referring to Spike. It was so cool he had a girlfriend that could bend a gun.

"Ehh, he's good, but at least we haven't come across any prophecies that say he'll kill me," she answered without thinking.

"What?"

Fighting the urge to smack herself on the head for that slip, Buffy tried to distract him, "Long story. Right now let's just bask in the happiness that we have three and a half weeks before you go furry again."

Oz gave her a kiss, then declared, "You're incredible, you know that?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, inwardly doing her own version of the Snoopy dance at his words – and his kiss. "You just say that 'cause you're my boyfriend and you have to."

Gazing into her eyes, Oz grew solemn. "Seriously, Buffy. Thank you for being so understanding about this."

"I finally found a guy who is caring, decent…can go out during the day. Why would I give that up because he has a few bad days every month?" she answered sincerely. "Heck, you'll probably want to steer clear of me a few days, too," Buffy said to lighten the mood.

Oz pulled her into another hug. "Nope, can't. That would mean six days apart, and that's way too many. What about Xander and Willow?" he asked, worried her friends wouldn't accept him when they found out the truth.

"Willow wants the details, and Xander is just happy that I'm not interested in Angel anymore. He still may give you a hard time, but that's his best friendly duty."

* * *

A/N: Next…A different choice of costumes for Halloween. Plus, a tragic choice leads to somebody's death.


	3. Chapter 3: Halloween

**Chapter 3: Halloween**

A/N: In order to avoid trouble with the mods, I had to change some names of characters. If you want the canon names, check out the same chapter on TtH.

Warning: Hopefully doesn't rise to the level of Angel-bashing, but isn't Angel-friendly. **Language and sex, folks!**

Challenge: personal request by gopher101 for a Buffy/Oz fic. As well as a b-day gift to zigpal.

Thanks to my betas: AerynSpeedleCaine and zigpal.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission. Some dialogue paraphrased from .

**

* * *

**

Ethan's

As Buffy expected/hoped, Willow and Xander were extra understanding about her and Oz. Well, she didn't really have any worries about Willow, but she was thrilled by Xander's acceptance. Sure, he had a couple concerns, but it wasn't nearly as bad as his attitude towards Angel had been. Then again, his best friend hadn't been killed by a werewolf, so it was understandable he felt uncomfortable around the vampire even though he had a soul.

They were standing in one of those seasonal stores – a new one named 'Ethan's', and Willow was telling the rest of them about an idea she had, "So anyway, when I was looking on the internet about…" she lowered her voice to a whisper, "werewolves, I ran across this book series. Now, part of it would bother you – since vampires had legal rights and you need a warrant to kill them – but the part about the were-animal community was kinda cool."

Buffy put her hand on Willow's mouth to stop the babble before it got any worse. "Alright, so what's your idea?" she asked, pulling her hand back to let her answer.

"They have costumes for several of the more prominent weres here. I was thinking that we could all dress in them to show our support of Oz," Willow explained, smiling at her friend's new squeeze.

"So we'd all be werewolves then?" Xander inquired. It wouldn't be any worse than the soldier outfit he had been planning on wearing.

Willow bounced excitedly. "No. That's the kinda cool thing about this series; there's more than one kind of were-animal. They have practically every kind for their natural counterpart."

Chuckling at the redhead's enthusiasm, Buffy nodded her acceptance of the plan. "Okay, I recognize the gleam in your eyes – you already have the costumes picked out, don't you?"

"Umm, kinda?" Willow admitted with a sheepish grin.

Xander trusted his best bud, but felt it necessary to say, "Anything but hyena for me!"

"For any of us. Those were _not_ good times," Buffy agreed with a shudder. She whispered to Oz that she would explain later.

"Well, I figured that Oz would go as a wolf…obviously. But this one is a really strong wolf; he's the first enforcer for a city's entire pack." Willow hesitated before adding, "The only thing I found about him that's kind of troubling is a comment he said about lesbians just needing to find the right guy. Other than that, he sounds perfect for Oz."

Buffy turned to her guy with a questioning expression. "Oz?"

He just shrugged. "Sure, why not?" Oz was actually pretty touched by the plan. He was still trying to come to terms with his new 'condition', and having the support of the group was incredible. He hated to think about what it would have been like without them.

"What about me?" Xander asked, starting to get enthused by the idea.

"How would you like to be a king? His horde of rats serve as protection for other people in the book. He's good-looking and honorable," Willow added shyly.

Xander puffed up proudly. "Just like me." He decided to ignore the giggles of the girls and said, "Sure, being the king would make up for the rat-ness."

Willow continued, "Buffy and I would both have medical training. She'd go as a nurse who's a leopard, and I'd be a doctor and rat. Or if you want to switch, we can," she offered, but the look in her eyes was pleading with the blonde to let her costume have some kind of added connection to Xander's.

Buffy caught the look and quickly shook her head. "Nah, I don't think I'd like being a rat. Besides, a leopard is more of a predator than a rat, so I probably would feel more comfortable with that," she reasoned.

Despite their earlier words, Oz had to check again, "Are you guys sure you want to do this?"

Xander threw his arm over Buffy's shoulder – guessing that it wouldn't be manly to do that to Oz – and declared, "Hey, you're the Buffster's guy and our buddy. This is our way of making you part of the Scoobies. We did have an initiation, but after the whole frat thing, it didn't seem like a good idea anymore."

"Is he serious?" Oz asked, unable to tell sometimes when Xander was just kidding around.

"Considering you're the only one joining the group since my first day here, I'll have to go with no," Buffy answered, slipping out from Xander's arm to hug her hunny.

Even though she knew the answer, Willow just had to tweak Xander a bit by asking, "So if Buffy had decided to date Angel, we would all dress as vampires?"

His eyes widened in disgust. "Hell no! But that's 'cause it's Deadboy, and it's wrong on so many levels – especially after what happened to Jesse," Xander added grimly.

Buffy shuddered too. "Yeah, not sure I'd want to do that again after the nightmares incident."

"Sorry. Just my lame attempt at teasing," Willow said, looking like she just found out she ate Bambi with a side of Thumper for dinner.

Xander gave her a side hug to let her know he wasn't upset. "That's okay, Will; I know you didn't mean anything by it. Hey, you're the one who brought his favorite cookies to the library on his birthday last month."

"Well, thanks, you guys. It's cool that you're alright with my situation," Oz said to break the tension. He also figured it was good to let them know he appreciated what they had done for him.

"Just in case Buffy hasn't already mentioned it, no biting – of any kind!" Xander ordered, which resulted in a round of laughter from everyone.

Oz nodded, "You got it."

Seeing the shop owner hovering nearby, Willow called out, "Sir? We're ready to get our costumes!"

Ethan slid over, excited to see Ripper's Slayer in with her little friends. "Ah, good. So what have you decided on?" he inquired solicitously.

"We'd like those four hanging together in the supernatural section," Buffy said, pointing to the section in question.

"Are you sure? I have a beautiful period dress what would make you look like a princess," Ethan tried to persuade the Slayer into his costume of choice.

Buffy shook her head, assuming that he just wanted to sell her the more expensive costume instead. "Totally sure. I had to wear one of those dresses for a play back at Hemery, and never again! I have no clue how the women were ever able to breathe in them – much less move."

Opting not to do anything to arouse her suspicions, Ethan let it go. The Slayer as a creature she hunts could be just as interesting – maybe more so. "Very well. Since you are buying more than three costumes at one time, I can give you a 10% discount."

"Saving money is always of the good for us. Means more for donuts and Twinkies!" Xander quipped happily.

**

* * *

**

After the spell took effect…

Shaking her head to clear the weird feeling that overcame her, Willow/Sage immediately sought out the leader of her horde. "My King, do you know what's happened? Where are we, and how did we get here?"

Xander/Alejandro didn't know, and didn't like not knowing. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "My first guess would be some sort of magick, though. Are you hurt in any way?" Sage shook her head.

"I'm fine, sir," Oz/Zareb answered.

It took a couple minutes for Buffy/Kiwi to respond; she was trying to get a better sense about the changes she was feeling. "For some strange reason, I actually feel _stronger_ somehow – like I could beat any of you in a challenge." Her eyes widened when she realized how that must have sounded. She bowed her head submissively and quickly added, "Not that I would _ever_ try, Rat King! Please forgive me!"

"That's alright, leopard. I can feel the increase in your strength," Alejandro assured her. "I daresay that if we were back home you'd be able to be the leader of your pard with no trouble."

Zareb spoke up as well, "I have to admit that my beast is torn about which one of you two it should follow. However, my sense of duty overrules any strange feeling that may be due to a spell of some kind."

Hearing the enforcer's explanation for what might have happened to her, Kiwi's expression fell. "Wow, I didn't think of that. But I really like this extra strength. Makes me feel like I could do so much more."

"Like what?" Sage asked kindly. She and Kiwi got along well because of their shared profession in the medical community.

Kiwi shrugged, "I don't know. For some reason, I want to help people – like by saving them. You know, like Anita."

Raising an eyebrow at the declaration, Alejandro pondered the idea, then remarked, "Interesting. Well, I think the first thing we should do is locate the Master of this City – or the nearest city if it doesn't have one. Maybe they can help us figure out what's happened."

They started walking the streets of Sunnydale, trying to sense where the Master's base of operations was. However, there was an overwhelming feeling of malevolent power in this town that it overwhelmed any sense of vampire power. Without any other choice, they agreed to seek out the malevolent power instead.

On their way, though, the displaced foursome ran across Spike and his group of minions – who were searching for the Slayer. Dru had apparently had a vision of her being a 'beta' instead of an 'alpha'. They weren't sure what that meant, but assumed it would be easier to kill her now.

Alejandro hissed to Zareb, "Protect the women!" He turned to Spike and demanded, "Who's your Master? We wish for an audience with him or her."

"Nobody's my master," Spike snarled. "Besides, the Slayer killed _The_ Master last spring."

"Then who is this Slayer?" Alejandro questioned. He turned to the others to explain, "If they killed the Master of this city, then they must have assumed his control of it."

Spike snorted in amusement. "Oh, this is too rich! You lot don't have any bloody idea who you are, do you?"

Not liking this vampire's attitude, Alejandro stood straight and announced formally, "I am Alejandro, King of the Dark Crown Clan. Sage is one of my rats; Zareb is the Skoll of the Thronnos Rokke Clan; and Kiwi is from the Blooddrinkers Clan. Now, please tell us where we may find this 'Slayer'."

"Or we could do this: kill them, but leave 'Kiwi' for me to play with!" Spike ordered his minions.

"We tried to be civilized about this, but we will defend ourselves if necessary," Alejandro warned, settling into a defensive stance and allowing himself to shift into his were-form.

The Slayer of Slayers stepped back in shock. "Bloody hell! What's going on here?" he shouted.

Zareb saw Kiwi getting ready to attack and called out to stop her, "Kiwi! Stop! You aren't strong enough to take them on!"

"I think I am." Before her words died out, Kiwi managed something she had never done before or since becoming a shifter. She stared at her hands as they became paws; her claws were longer and sharper than they had ever been in the past. It vaguely reminded her of a comic book character by the name of 'Wolverine'. She grinned viciously when her eyes locked onto the first vampire to attack Sage.

Without worrying about anything else, Kiwi made a swipe at the neck of the vampire, and was startled when it disintegrated into dust particles once the head was separated from its body. What Kiss of vampire did these ones come from? This might be easier than they thought.

After witnessing how Kiwi was able to execute the vampire with a simple slice of her claws, both Alejandro and Zareb joined in the battle, making sure to protect Sage from any attacks. Within minutes, all the minions were dead, and just Spike was left to fight Kiwi. He was stronger and smarter than the other vampires though, so the battle wasn't nearly as simple for her.

At one point, Spike managed to sneak an especially hard blow to Kiwi's jaw, sending her into the side of the building. Alejandro moved forward to engage him in battle, but was unprepared for switchblade that appeared in Spike's hand. Seeing the Rat King stabbed in the gut, Zareb roared in fury and attacked. Before Spike could defend himself fully, the werewolf enforcer shoved his clawed hand into the vampire's chest and ripped out the unbeating heart. Just as if he had been decapitated or staked, Spike turned into ashes – his last thought was worrying who would take care of his dark princess now.

Sage had raced to Alejandro's side before Zareb dusted Spike. "My King! How bad is it?"

Wincing at the pain, Alejandro replied, "Hurts like hell, but I should be alright. Are the rest of you okay?"

"Sore jaw, but otherwise I'm of the good," Kiwi answered, rubbing her mouth. Then she realized what she said. "What the heck? _'…of the good'_? Where the heck did that come from?"

Alejandro decided her word choice wasn't of utmost importance at the moment. "If we're all good to keep moving, I suggest we continue to try to find that power center."

**

* * *

**

Library

Pushing his way through the doors, Zareb called to the man sitting at the table with a book in front of him, "Sir? Do you know anything about the powerful energy coming from some place near this room?"

Giles looked up, taking his glasses of to clean them. "Oz? What are you talking about? How did the trick-or-treating go? Snyder didn't give you any trouble, did he?" he asked his Slayer.

Who looked at him like she had no clue who he was. "You know us?" Kiwi asked warily.

He just glared back. "Haha, very funny, Buffy. Are you four trying to pull some kind of Halloween prank on me?" Giles asked.

Alejandro stepped forward, curious what was going on, and hoping that this man could somehow help them. "Honestly, sir, we have no idea who you are, or who these people you think we are are." He introduced the group to Giles, then explained they thought they were the victims of some kind of spell.

"Dear lord!" Giles muttered to himself, "Let's see, where did the children get their costumes from? I think Willow left the receipt in one of the books she was reading this afternoon." After a couple minutes of searching, he found the scrap of paper and growled in anger. "_Ethan!_"

Sage leaned towards her king, whispering, "Are we absolutely certain he's human?"

Chuckling at the wererat, Alejandro replied, "He smells like a magick user – though not a practicing one. Maybe he became addicted and now has to get permission to cast any spells," he hypothesized.

Giles guessed his old friend was in town and didn't want to let the children know about that part of his past. "I believe I've discovered what has happened. Why don't you go on home, and I'll take care of this," he suggested, praying they would accept without fighting him.

"And where would these…homes be?" Alejandro questioned.

"I apologize, I only know Buffy and Willow's addresses." Giles handed them slips of paper with the house number and directions for both places before racing out the library doors.

Kiwi stared at the swinging doors in bemusement. "What a strange man."

Silently agreeing with her, Zareb turned to the Rat King to ask, "Should we go to either of these places?"

Uncomfortable staying so close to the evil power he felt in this room, Alejandro nodded. "I think it would be best if we all stay together until we know more. Why don't we go to the place on Sage's piece of paper?"

**

* * *

**

Rosenburg living room

A little surprised to find the front door unlocked, Sage walked into the darkened home. "Hmm, nobody seems to be home. Now that we are settled, I want to take care of that injury," she demanded, looking at Alejandro.

Alejandro attempted to brush off her concerns, "I assure you that I'm fine, doctor."

"And if the magick that brought us here has somehow affected your healing abilities? I don't want to take any chances, My King," she retorted logically.

He sighed in resignation. "I guess you have a point. Alright, lead on."

Zareb watched them go up the stairs and yelled to them, "We'll just stay down here." Once they were out of earshot, he turned to Kiwi. "Are you okay? You seem agitated."

"Uh, I'm good!" When he raised an eyebrow, Kiwi blushed and stared at the floor. "Fine, but remember, you insisted on knowing. I'm very aroused," she muttered under her breath.

But of course he heard her. "Aroused?"

"Yes!" Kiwi yelled at him. "I never realized how much fighting was like sex – energy-wise. Now I feel like I need a fuck, hard and fast. Happy? You got me to admit it now."

Zareb felt his own arousal rise with her words and the smells he caught coming from her. Normally he wouldn't suggest this, but what the heck, she was quite attractive. "Depends… You have any problems with going at it with a wolf?"

Kiwi's head shot up in surprise and hope. "Really? Umm, no, I have no problem. Do you have any problem with leopards? I know that because of Raina and-"

Cutting her off before any bad memories intruded on them, Zareb stepped closer to her, whispering huskily, "Different circumstances. There's nobody here to force us to do anything; I don't see any cameras; and I have to admit, seeing you in action tonight was quite stimulating."

"Then let's see what you got, Enforcer!" Kiwi answered with a challenging growl. Before she knew it, he had her pinned on the floor and was pulling their clothes off to speed up their mating.

**

* * *

**

Upstairs

Alejandro heard/smelled what the two weres downstairs were doing, but figured it wasn't his business if they wanted to have sex together. Instead he focused on the woman tending to his wounds. She seemed disturbed by something. "Doctor?" When she didn't answer him, Alejandro tried again, "Sage? What's wrong? You didn't get hurt, did you?"

"No," she whispered.

"Then why are you so upset?" he asked, wondering if _she_ had a problem with Zareb and Kiwi having sex when they were in such an unusual situation.

Sage kept staring at the floor, but quietly declared, "I almost lost you tonight."

"It would take more than a simple stab wound to kill me; you know that," Alejandro said. There had to be more to it than that.

She shook her head vehemently. "But I've never watched you get hurt before. I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to you."

Alejandro's eyes widened in shock at the emotion in her voice. "Sage?"

"I'm sorry. I know that you're the Rat King, and I'm just an older doctor who helps our people…" Sage trailed off before she made an even bigger fool of herself.

He let out a low whistle. "Wow. I never even guessed that you felt that way about me. To be honest, I hadn't really thought about a personal relationship since my ex-wife took our son away from me."

Sage thought he was just trying to be kind in his rejection of her, so she started to say, "You don't have to-"

But Alejandro kept talking like she hadn't said a word, "You remind me of her – or at least who she was when we fell in love. Not the way you look, but your caring nature. It's not just that you're a doctor – although I would guess that was the reason you became one. Whenever I talk to anyone who has gotten treatment from you, they all sing your praises. And I know from personal experience that you have a wonderful bedside manner."

Not wanting to let her hopes grow too much, Sage whispered cautiously, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that perhaps I've mourned the loss of my marriage long enough," he answered with a small smile.

She shook her head again. "But I'm so much older-"

Alejandro put his finger on her lips to stop her words. "Yet you are still a very attractive woman. I'm willing to give it a try if you are."

"Of course I am!" she declared breathlessly just before he leaned in to kiss her tenderly.

**

* * *

**

Living room

**½ hour later…**

As the spell wore off, Buffy and Oz were mere moments away from their combined climax. Oz was about to withdraw, but Buffy stopped him. "No. We may not have started this, but we can be the ones who finish it."

Surprised at her actions, Oz asked, "You won't regret it later?"

"I'm a little bummed we weren't in control when we started, but I'm _not_ upset that my first time was with you." A thought occurred to her and she smirked. "Actually, since I didn't have to deal with the awkwardness or pain of losing my virginity, maybe this _is_ better."

"Next time we'll do it right." Then he resumed his motions, wanting it to be good for her anyway.

**

* * *

**

Upstairs

Xander pulled away from the heated embrace as his mind tried to catch up with everything that happened in the last few hours. "Uh, Will?"

"Are you going to stop now that you know who you're with?" Willow asked, her shoulders slumping in defeat.

Despite his years of blindness where Willow was concerned, Xander didn't let her go without a fight. "Are you sure that you want your first time to be with me?" he questioned gently.

Willow decided to seize the fish – like Buffy had suggested a year ago. "You don't already know the answer to that? Xander, I've been in love with you for longer than I can remember. Question is, how do you feel about me?" she inquired timidly.

He knew she deserved an honest answer instead of a quick fix one. "I don't know. Before, you were Willow, my best bud; now…you're _Willow_, a very pretty girl who's told me she likes me."

Beaming in pleasure at him calling her pretty, Willow still wasn't ready to get completely excited. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Xander sighed, trying to figure out the best way to handle it. "I think it's a 'we should slow down and try dating first' kind of thing. Believe me, that's not an easy thing for me to say with as revved up as my body is feeling right now. I can't understand how I didn't notice you before."

"Guess Buffy was right about Halloween opening your eyes. She promised that you'd see the girlness of me if I picked the right costume," Willow explained when he looked questioningly at her.

Given what they knew from their time as Alejandro and Sage, the pair decided to wait upstairs until they heard Buffy and Oz call out that they were heading home. Xander talked Willow into having a movie marathon so they could do the boyfriend/girlfriend hanging out at home before taking it out into public.

Willow knew that even though her night wasn't quite as physical as Buffy's probably ended up being, they'd both have a lot to share the next day when they compared notes. In a way, she was kind of relieved that there was only smoochies between her and Xander; she wasn't ready to make that step with him until she was positive of his feelings for her.

**

* * *

**

Cordelia's house…

Buffy walked Oz back to his house, then figured that she should do a short patrol – on the off chance there were any more creepy crawlies who didn't know tonight was supposed to be a night off for the supernatural. Then she'd have to go see Giles; there was something strange about his reaction to the name of the shop where they got their costumes.

Passing by Cordelia's house, Buffy stopped when she heard a scream that sounded suspiciously familiar to her. Of course Cordy would be in trouble; it would make tonight perfect. Well, actually, the night hadn't gone so bad. Spike was dust; Xander seemed to have finally gotten a clue about Willow; and she managed to lose her virginity without the normal first-time jitters. She shook her head to focus on the matter at hand: Cordy in danger…again.

The Slayer snuck up to the house, then peeked in the windows, trying to get a better picture of what was happening. Since the scream came from inside, she couldn't exactly just barge in without being reasonably sure somebody was in imminent peril. It wasn't until she looked in the pool house that she saw what caused the scream. Guess she and Oz weren't the only two to get lucky that night.

If circumstances had been different, Buffy may have been hurt to see Angel pounding away into Cordy. As it was, all she felt was a little ill for having witnessed it. If they were happy together – something she couldn't personally understand – then she was happy for Angel. Just because she didn't want to be with him didn't mean he didn't deserve somebody. Now all she had to do was bleach that image out of her brain.

Angel felt Buffy approaching before she even came in sight. He had been so angry when he discovered that she didn't care Oz was a werewolf. She didn't want to be with him because he was a monster – oh, she didn't come right out and say it, but he knew – but she was perfectly okay with her new boyfriend being one? What? Was a werewolf that much better than a vampire?

Then to make matters worse, Willow and Xander accepted him into their little group without hesitation. Xander! Angel had assumed that his former rival could at least be depended on to throw a stink about Oz. But nooo, the little snot was actually supportive of their relationship!

The final straw came when he overheard them talking about their costumes for tonight. Seems Willow got the bright idea to show solidarity for the werewolf by having them all dress as characters from a book series that highlighted different were-creatures. Angel doubted that they would have done the same thing for him if he had been dating Buffy.

If she didn't want to be with him…fine! He'd find somebody else who did. But who? He smirked when he thought of the perfect revenge. Buffy had always complained about Cordelia making her life at Sunnydale High a nightmare, so if he dated Cordelia, it might make Buffy jealous enough to come to her senses. The brunette was easy on the eyes; it wouldn't be that hard to convince her he was interested.

As luck would have it, Angel came across Cordelia earlier that evening when she had been attacked by a kid who really believed he was a pirate. Just like every other time when he was nearby when she was rescued, Cordy clung to him like white on rice. What was different this time was he was willing to take advantage of her vulnerable state.

That's how they ended up back at the Chase residence, going at it like bunnies.

He couldn't have planned it better; to actually have Buffy catch them in the act? It was perfect!

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Buffy looking in the window of the pool house. She stumbled away, obviously distraught over what she had witnessed. In that moment, Angel was once more Liam of long ago; the Liam who was a womanizing lout. Knowing that he had hurt the Slayer he considered himself in love with – hopefully as much as she had hurt him by dating the werewolf – Angel felt that moment of perfect happiness.

Without understanding what happened, Angel felt his soul being torn away, leaving Angelus in his place.

* * *

A/N: Next…an AU _'Lie to Me'_.


	4. Chapter 4: Lie to Me

**Chapter 4: Lie to Me**

A/N: So here it is, folks. Hope you enjoy how this ends.

Warning: **Character death! C'mon, after the way the last chapter ended, is this really a surprise?**

Challenge: personal request by gopher101 for a Buffy/Oz fic. As well as a b-day gift to zigpal.

Thanks to my betas: AerynSpeedleCaine, AshDawnSoulmates and zigpal.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission. Some dialogue used/paraphrased from .

**Library**

**The following Monday…**

Sitting at the table with her friends, Buffy decided to bite the proverbial bullet and ask, "Umm, has anyone seen Cordelia since Halloween?"

Willow's face scrunched up – adorable, in Xander's opinion – as she thought about the weekend. Well, the part that she didn't spend smooching with her new sweetie. "Now that you mention it, I don't think so."

"Why? Is there a problem?" Giles inquired somewhat distractedly. He was busy alphabetizing his latest shipment from the Council.

"I'm not sure," Buffy admitted hesitantly. "I saw her doing something Friday night, and she looked happy about it, but if she hasn't been seen for a few days…"

Xander smirked at the strange blush on the Slayer's face. "Sorry, Buff, as good as my best friend babble-decoder skills are, that didn't make any sense to me."

She sighed, resigned to the fact that she might actually have to say the words. "It's kind of embarrassing, and I need you to promise not to say anything to anyone else, 'k?" When everybody nodded, Buffy continued, "When I was doing a short patrol after walking Oz home, I passed by Cordelia's place. As I did, there was a scream so I ran to check it out."

"Go on," Giles prompted. Honestly, it was like trying to pull teeth with her to get her to spit it out.

"Turns out it wasn't a _scared_ kind of scream," Buffy said, emphasizing the word 'scared', praying somebody would figure it out.

In her perpetual innocence, Willow shot that hope to hell by asking, "What do you mean?"

Inwardly howling with laughter, Oz managed to answer for his girlfriend, and keep a straight face, too, "I think she means Cordelia was having sex with somebody and was loud about it."

"Exactly," Buffy agreed with a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Oz. I wasn't sure I could say it."

Furiously polishing his glasses, Giles replied, "Alright, but I fail to see why you're concerned about this."

"Because her partner was Angel," Buffy said, glad that it was all out now. Course now she felt kinda like the sex police.

"Queen C and Deadboy?" Xander asked with an arch of his eyebrow. "Huh, wish I could say that surprised me, but…nope, can't do it," he shook his head. "Saw this coming from a mile away – especially after you kicked him to the curb."

Willow was biting her lip nervously. "You don't think he'd hurt her, do you?"

Shrugging helplessly, Buffy confessed, "Like I said, I don't know. I mean, are there certain things vampires do during sex that people don't?"

Off came the glasses again for another cleaning, and Giles began a hyper stutter, "Uh, I-I, that is to say…"

Thankfully, Jenny burst into the room just then; the bad news was that she had _bad_ news. "Angelus is free!"

"Oh dear lord!" Giles declared for everyone.

Buffy stood up in shock, demanding to know, "What? How did that happen?"

"There was a clause in his curse that if he ever experienced even a moment of true happiness, the curse would be lifted and he would return to being a soulless monster," Jenny explained, waiting for the evitable explosion.

"That sounds like a stupid clause," Xander scoffed. "Why couldn't it have been that he'd be dusted or something like that?"

"How do you know so much about his curse?" Willow inquired, narrowing her eyes slightly at her second favorite faculty member; 'cause of course Giles was the favorite.

Steeling herself for their anger, Jenny admitted, "Because I was sent here by my clan to keep an eye on him; make sure he was still suffering for all the pain and torment he caused."

"So you're a spy," Oz paraphrased bluntly. He wasn't sure how he felt about this; he decided to let Buffy or Giles be the ones to set the mood for the group.

Buffy, seeing the pain in her Watcher's eyes, brushed aside the observation and said, "We'll deal with that after we take care of Angelus. Can your clan re-cast the curse?"

Jenny shook her head sadly, "It's been too long, and nobody is sure where the original transcript for the curse is. Even if we had it, we don't have any magick practioners strong enough to pull it off."

"So we need to slay him before he kills – or probably before he kills too many _more_ people," Buffy corrected herself, remembering her earlier concern.

Which Willow immediately picked up on. "You're thinking he killed Cordelia?"

"Maybe. When did you learn that the curse was lifted?" Buffy asked Jenny, who was fighting the tears from the glares being sent her way by most of the people in the room.

Shaking herself out of her self-pity, Jenny replied, "I got a call from my uncle Saturday morning." She would beg for their forgiveness later…after Angelus was killed.

Buffy came to the unhappy conclusion, "Given that the last time anyone saw Cordelia alive was Friday night, I'd say the chances are good that she's dead or turned now."

"Will you be able to slay him?" Giles inquired gently. "I know that you were beginning to have feelings for him."

She just smiled sadly back at him, thankful for his kindness – even if it was misplaced in this case. "Maybe if I were in love with him we'd have a problem, but right now all I feel is sorrow that this had to happen to him and Cordelia. I mean, did he even know he could lose his soul?" Buffy asked rhetorically. "And if we don't have a way to change him back, then there really isn't any point in worrying about it. He's like any other friend who's been vamped. Granted, he was actually already a vamp before, but you know what I mean; the person we knew isn't there anymore and it's just a demon wearing his face."

"What about Cordelia?" Willow asked.

Buffy moved to the weapons cage to arm herself. "I'll swing by her place and see if I can find out what happened after I left Friday night."

Standing up to join her, Giles remarked, "I'll go with you. Angelus is too dangerous for you to handle on your own." He wasn't ready to stay around Jenny at the moment; the feeling of betrayal was still too great right now.

Willow moved to the stack of Watchers' Diaries and pulled out a bunch from the 1700s, offering, "We'll stay here see what we can about Angelus. Maybe come up with an idea of what he's gonna do."

"Thanks. Be careful guys, and make sure you get out of here before dark." When they looked at her blankly, Buffy reminded them, "Vamps don't need invites to get in public schools, remember?"

"Yeah, parents' night kinda drove that point home for us," Xander snarked.

Oz pulled Buffy in for a tight hug and whispered in her ear, "Please be careful. I don't want to lose you."

"And I don't want to be lost. The smoochies are too good to give up," Buffy said with a teasing smile, then leaned in to give him a kiss.

While they were saying goodbye, Jenny moved over to Giles. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for lying about why I was here. I just want you to know that that's all I lied about. My feelings for…_everyone_ are genuine," she declared passionately.

Ignoring the happy flutter in his heart at her words, Giles just nodded back. "Like Buffy said earlier, we'll deal with that later."

**Cordelia's house**

"If it isn't the Slayer and her pet Watcher," Cordelia snarled as the pair strode into her home. It was Buffy's fault she was a vamp now, and even though she enjoyed the freedom, she wanted to make the blonde pay.

Buffy just arched an eyebrow at the demonic expression on her school rival. "Guess that answers the question of what happened to you. So where is Angelus now?" she asked blandly, hoping to throw the other girl off-guard.

"He's out looking for a present for me; hopefully a yummy morsel to wash the taste of my family out of my mouth. For being blue-bloods, they were rather tart to drink," Cordelia snarled – seemed that's all she could do right now. She anticipated upsetting the pair standing before her with her bloodthirsty attitude.

But she didn't count on them being used to such comments from vampires. "As I imagine you were for Angelus," Buffy retorted easily.

"Is that the best insult you can come up with? Maybe your jealousy about us being together has made your quips lame – or lamer than they were before. Do you know _how_ he lost that wretched soul? He lost it because we had wild, passionate sex." Cordelia announced, running her hands over her body – much to Giles' dismay and Buffy's disgust. "Afterward, he told me that he was glad he didn't waste his time with piece of garbage like you. He needed somebody more sensual."

Buffy chuckled at the obvious ploy to anger or hurt her; she remembered what she learned about Darla and threw it back in Cordelia's face, "Well, given that his sire was a prostitute before she became a vampire, that isn't a huge surprise. Just didn't think you were a slut, too. Huh, guess that shows how wrong we can be about others."

Uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed, Giles interrupted, "Buffy, if you wouldn't mind just staking her so we can get out of here."

"Oh right, sorry 'bout that. Don't suppose you're going to make this easy are you?" the Slayer inquired rhetorically.

Cordelia scoffed, "As if! I'm not your average new vamp; I've got the skills of a cheerleader to back me up," she boasted.

"So you're gonna pom-pom me to death?" Buffy snarked. "You forget, I have those skills too." As she said that, Buffy threw one of her new wooden throwing knives that Oz gave her as a one-month'versary present. Cordelia was so busy moving to avoid that one that she didn't notice the follow-up throws Buffy made. Without even a single punch, the fight was over and Cordelia's ashes were falling to the floor.

Proud of his Slayer's skill with a new weapon, Giles remarked, "You're quite good with those. I commend young Oz's choice of presents. Now let's see if there are any people alive here."

**Library**

**A short time later…**

A dejected Watcher and Slayer slumped into their seats after calling the police with an anonymous tip. "Well, Cordelia was turned and at her house, surrounded by the bodies of her parents and the people who worked for them. Seems she and Angelus had a busy weekend," Buffy told the others.

"Oh!" Willow cried out, clearly distressed at the news. "We never got along, but I wouldn't have wished that kind of thing on my worst enemy – which I guess she kinda was."

Xander pulled her into a comforting embrace, kissing her hair lightly. "Shush, we understand what you mean."

Giles cleared his throat, adding, "The good news – if you can call it that – is Buffy slayed her before any further damage could be done. Unfortunately, the bad news is Angelus wasn't there, so we weren't able to get rid of him."

"Do you think that he could go back to the house? Maybe you could lay a trap for him," Oz suggested.

"It's possible," Giles conceded. "However, Buffy's concern was wondering how long it would be before he came back."

"Plus I was worried that he'd come after you guys while we were sitting there on our thumbs," Buffy said, giving them the real reason for coming back.

Willow pulled out a piece of paper where they were listing the things they found out. "Our news isn't any better. From what we read about Angelus, it doesn't sound like things will be that great around here until he's dead. I mean, dusted-dead, not _dead_ 'cause he's already dead." Xander quieted her by placing a soft kiss on her lips. "Thanks," she whispered.

Remembering some of the things on the list, Oz admitted quietly, "I think you might be in trouble, Buffy."

"Why?" she asked.

Jenny saw that none of the other teens wanted to speak, and since her clan was partially responsible for this mess, she spoke up, "Because in the accounts that we read about his more colorful exploits, Angelus tends to become obsessed with a victim, then does everything he can to break her mentally before he kills or turns them. Given his feelings for you before this happened, it's likely you'd be the target of his fixation this time."

"But I still don't understand why," Buffy persisted, her nose wrinkling in confusion. "He was with Cordelia when he lost his soul; wouldn't that make _her_ his target?"

Oz shook his head, "He wouldn't have killed her so quickly if she was."

"I believe they're correct, Buffy," Giles said. "Remember those things Cordelia told us about what he said after he turned her? I think they were said with the intention of you eventually hearing them. I think he wanted her to tell you so it would hurt you."

Buffy scoffed at the idea, "Oh please! As if hearing that would hurt me?"

"What did she say?" Oz asked.

"Nothing." They just stared at her until she caved. "Just a bunch of crap about how I wasn't woman enough for him – or something along those lines. Like I really care what an evil vampire says about me. Okay, maybe if they said I was a bad fighter, or had no fashion sense-" This time, it was Oz who kissed his girlfriend into silence.

Xander leaned over and slapped Oz on the shoulder. "Works great, doesn't it?"

Happy that the children could still find humor at a time like this, Giles redirected the conversation, "Yes, well…back to the issue at hand. If we are correct about this, then all of us are in danger. Angelus may attack us to hurt Buffy – especially you, Oz. Since most of us aren't fighters, we should look into any spells that could protect us when we aren't at home."

Willow held up her hand shyly, recalling the one time that Angel helped her into her room after she sprained her ankle on the way home from patrol. "What if he's been invited into our homes before? Is the invitation still good or does losing his soul take it away?"

Buffy's eyes widened in horror. "Oh god! Mom would be a sitting duck!"

"I know of a disinvite spell that we could use," Jenny offered. Despite what her uncle told her about keeping separate from these people, she thought the least she could do was help them with this problem – and as long as they let her afterward. "It's fairly simple to perform and you don't need much power to do it."

Giles nodded, smiling slightly at the relieved gypsy. "Then we should take care of that right away."

Leaning back in his chair, Xander commented, "Times like this makes me glad I never liked the guy. I don't have to worry about letting him in."

"We should do all the houses, just in case somebody _else_ in our families let him in before," Willow pointed out.

Buffy looked at the clock and saw there were several hours until sundown. "We have enough time to hit everyone's home before dark if we start now."

"Then let's go," Giles commanded, grabbing his keys to lock up the library. They were fortunate that the students only had a half-day of classes that day.

**The student lounge**

**A couple days later…**

Sneaking some chips from Willow's bag, Xander asked, "Any news on Deadboy?"

"A big, fat nope on that one," Buffy answered dejectedly. Her patrols with Giles were quiet – at least where Angelus was concerned. "Seems he's laying low for now; probably trying to come up with the best way to cause the greatest pain and suffering for everyone."

"It'll be nice when this is all over. I miss going to the Bronze," Willow said with a pout.

"Hey, at least you didn't have to fake an injury to get out of playing with the band," Oz retorted, holding up his bandaged wrist.

Xander looked at it in confusion. "What?"

"Oz needed an excuse not to play with the Dingoes last night," Buffy explained for her sweetie. "It's not as if he could tell them that his girlfriend's kind of ex might be stalking her and her friends in order to hurt and/or kill them."

Oz smirked. "Well, I could, but I thought the sprained wrist was easier."

Sighing deeply, Xander announced, "We need something to cheer us all up. What about a movie night? Films we can't understand, enough junk food to sicken nutritionists all around the world?"

Willow nodded hopefully, "That sounds nice."

From behind them, a voice only familiar to one of them spoke up, "I'd suggest a box of Oreos dunked in apple juice, but maybe she's over that phase."

Buffy jumped up to hug the new person, practically shouting, "Ford! What are you doing here?"

"Dad got transferred so I'm finishing school here," he said with a shrug. "Surprised you still remember me."

"As if I could forget the guy who I crushed on in 5th grade." She turned around so she could introduce him to the group, "Guys, this is a friend from LA, Billy Fordham. Ford, this is the gang. Willow's the smartest person you'll ever meet; Xander's a genius at making people laugh; and Oz…well, Oz is my sweetie so anything I say about him is bound to be overly-biased," Buffy finished, settling Oz's concerns about her apparent happiness to see this Ford guy.

Inwardly seething that she had a boyfriend, Ford decided to make his escape for the time being. He'd get her alone some other time. "Good to meet you all. Well, I'd better go get registered for class, but maybe I'll see you later?"

"Count on it," Buffy said with a nod as she re-took her seat next to Oz, who was glad to throw his arm around his girl. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

Once Ford was out of earshot, Oz debated for a moment before choosing to just tell her and let her take it from there. "Buffy? Please don't take this as jealousy, 'cause I trust you completely, but there's something wrong with your friend."

Buffy looked down the hallway where Ford left, wondering what she missed. "What do you mean?"

Glad that she hadn't dismissed him out of hand, Oz explained, "He smells weird…like sickness or something."

"Huh. Willow, would you look up his files and see if there's anything in there about him being sick?" Buffy asked her best friend. "I know I should wait and let him tell me, but right now I don't want anything else distracting me."

"You got it. As soon as I know something, I'll let you know," Willow promised.

**Library**

**After patrol…**

"So, you're telling me that your friend from LA knows that you're the Slayer?" Giles summarized what his Slayer just informed him. He was starting to doubt whether or not she really had that blasted button she teased him with last year.

Buffy was perched on the table, swinging her legs. "Uh-huh, but he was almost Owen-like about it. Kinda gives me the wiggins – especially with Angelus lurking around," she said with a shudder. "Not a good time for somebody to be around me if Angelus is obsessed with me."

Catching the doubtful tone in her last statement, Giles inquired, "You don't think he is?"

She just shrugged, "I don't know. I mean, he hasn't even come to visit me yet; or send me any psychotic presents like he has with his past victims."

"Still, I want you to be careful," Giles warned.

"Hey, you know me," Buffy promised without actually saying the words.

The opportunity was too good to pass up, so Giles teased, "Yes, and that's why I'm asking you to be careful."

She glared half-heartedly at him, then helped him finish cleaning up so they could go home. "Very funny, Watcher-mine."

**Streets of Sunnydale**

**Next day…**

Buffy thought it was a stroke of luck that she happened to run into her boyfriend right then. "I need you to tell Giles and the gang that Ford wants me at this address. Have them load up on weapons and come ready to fight; something feels off about this. I'm not sure what kind of game Ford is playing, but it can't be good."

"I don't like the idea of you going in by yourself," Oz responded with a frown.

She just pushed him towards his van, replying, "Which is why I'll try to stall as long as I can, and why I need you to _hurry_."

Oz glared at her before he got into the van. "You're getting too good at that logic thing Giles pulls on you." He paused for a minute, then pleaded, "Be careful; I don't want anything to happen to you."

**The Sunset Club**

Standing in a quiet corner with Ford, Buffy hissed at him, "What do you want, Ford? What's this all about?"

Ford figured that the charade was over with anyway, so he admitted proudly, "They're gonna make me a vampire."

"No, they're gonna make you – and everyone else here – a snack!" Buffy declared, annoyed that he'd be so stupid.

He just smirked in return. "Not if I give them something they really want."

"What could they possibly want that you have?" Her eyes widened in horror as she put the pieces together. "Oh my god! You're going to give them me? Are you out of your mind? I can't believe you'd be so idiotic!"

"Hey, it's not as if I have a lot of choices," Ford defended himself.

Just then Chanterelle passed by, cooing dreamily, "We're going to ascend to a new level of consciousness! Become like them. Like the Lonely Ones."

Buffy rolled her eyes. Was everyone here a complete loon? How could she possibly save people who didn't even understand they were in danger? "You don't know what vampires are really like if you believe that line of crap."

Ford nodded to somebody behind Buffy. "Doesn't matter what anyone believes anymore." The door slammed shut. "Nobody's leaving here alive now. The door only opens from the outside, and in about 15 minutes they'll be here," he said.

Buffy just looked at her old friend, wondering what happened to make him do this. All Willow had come up with so far was that he wasn't really in school with them, but she promised to keep looking. "I can't believe that you'd condemn all these people to death just because you want to become a vampire – even if they _are_ morons."

"Try puking up your guts because of chemo for a few months, then talk to me about what deal you're willing to make to have something better," Ford snarled back. "I'm not going to die because of a bunch of tumors in my head!"

"But it isn't better!" Buffy screamed. "You still die and a demon takes over your body! That's if they hold up their end of the agreement and don't just drain you."

"Angelus gave me his word; so did Drusilla," Ford shot back, as if that answered everything.

Buffy felt like slapping herself in the forehead. Well, actually she felt like smacking him, but with the tumors, she wasn't sure that was a good idea. "Oh my- And you're trusting _them_? Drusilla couldn't be trusted to tell you what day it is tomorrow. You wanna know why?" Before he could answer, she continued, "'Cause Angelus tortured her until her mind broke before turning her. Oh yeah, sounds _way_ better to 'live' like that forever – or until a Slayer finds you and stakes you."

Ford simply shrugged his shoulder though. "Still beats just dying."

"Forget it. I obviously can't reason with somebody as far gone as you. I'm gonna try to save those who actually _deserve_ it," she said, pushing past him to try to find a different way out.

Ford's watch beeped. "Too late. They're on their way now." When she had her back to him, Ford swung a crowbar he picked up from its hiding place behind a pillar, knocking her to the ground.

**20 minutes later…**

The gang found Buffy sitting outside the club on the sidewalk, looking desolate. Giles was the first one to ask, "Where are the vampires?"

She just gestured with thumb over her shoulder. "Inside. They can't get out – at least not right away. Eventually they'll bust out, then we can come back."

"Why?" Oz inquired, concerned about her mood.

"To get Ford's body," Buffy murmured just loud enough for the others to hear.

Giles motioned the others to stay quiet so he could find out the story. "What happened?"

"Ford used a bunch of idiots – who had some crazy ideas about what vampires really were – and me as a bartering tool so Angelus and Drusilla would turn him." Buffy shook her head to clear the images that sprang up of what happened before she grabbed the psychotic vamp and held her hostage. "Luckily, Angelus still has a weird obsession with her and I used her to get the others out safely. Then I pushed her into his arms and got out too, locking them in. Even though he was willing to sacrifice all those people, I still feel bad for not getting Ford out too."

"He made his choice," Giles said, trying to comfort his Slayer with words while Oz did it physically. "You can't force people to see things logically if they don't want to."

Buffy sighed. "I know. I think the tumors in his head were affecting his thinking though."

"Couldn't have been affecting him too much if he was able to come up with all of this," Oz pointed out, completely unsympathetic towards the guy who tried to get his girlfriend killed.

**A day later…**

Angelus snarled as they finally broke free from the bomb shelter. Now he wished that he hadn't killed the Ford brat so quickly; he deserved to suffer much more than just a simple broken neck for getting them trapped. He smirked evilly; at least he could make the Slayer pay with her tears and pain before he turned her.

As they walked down the dark hallway, he plotted all the things he was going to do to her – especially the delightful torment he'd put that pet wolf of hers through. Maybe she'd like a nice fur coat in remembrance of him.

His mind barely had enough time to register the smell of sulfur when a match lit up near the front door. The match – which lit as the door opened – set off a chain reaction of events, similar to the movie 'Home Alone'; a movie that only a couple of the vampires had seen in their lives before being turned. The vampire who opened the door pulled his hand back, hissing in pain from the cross that had been superglued to the knob. He knocked into the vampires behind him, who fell against the walls where stakes were glued. Most were just impaled, but one of them dusted.

The big problem came when the fire started by the burning match burned through a sealed container. Inside the container were frag bombs, specially designed for vampires with gasoline and tiny crosses that imbedded themselves into the skin like shrapnel. To make matters worse, the sprinkler system went off, but instead of water, out came Greek Fire – the recipe was courtesy of Jenny Calendar, who got it from her clanspeople. Within seconds, all the vampires were burning up and turning to ashes. By then, the building was on fire.

When the fire department arrived, the building was almost a total loss. All they found was the body of a young man with a broken neck at the foot of the stairs in the bomb shelter. He was later identified as William 'Billy' Fordham, formerly of Los Angeles. The cause of the fire was presumed to be arson for profit, and since he was the owner of record, Fordham was considered to be unfortunate enough to have died accidently after he started the fire, obviously misjudging the ferocity of the inferno created.

**Graveyard**

Buffy waited near the freshly overturned earth of a complete stranger, on the off chance they had been turned during a random vamp attack the same night as Ford's death. Oz stood nearby, knowing she was hurting from the betrayal of somebody she used to consider a friend. He only hoped that she would let him help her get past it.

As if the gods heard his silent request, she began speaking, "It's funny… The thing that bothers me the most isn't that Ford was willing to feed me to Angelus and Drusilla; that part, I sort of understand. It's that he was okay with letting them slaughter all those people who were too stupid to realize they were in danger – just because he was pissed off that he was dying."

"People do crazy things when they're hurting," Oz replied blandly. It was probably good that Ford didn't survive, because Oz wasn't sure if he could stop himself from hurting the guy for what he did to Buffy.

"Tell me about it." Buffy bit her lower lip, deciding to share the more painful revelation from that night, "You know, Angelus said something to me that makes me feel kind of responsible for Cordelia's death – even though I know realistically that it isn't my fault."

Moving closer to comfort her if necessary, Oz asked, "What?"

Buffy accepted his comfort while still remaining vigilant; it wouldn't do for a vamp to get past her because she was cuddling. "He taunted me with the fact that he knew I saw them having sex; that was what gave him his moment of pure happiness. I just didn't think Angel was like that. Then again, I guess I didn't know him all that well if it was so easy for him to move onto Cordelia after telling me that he wanted a relationship with me," she stated sadly.

Her tone wasn't lost on her boyfriend. Feeling a little defensive, Oz demanded, "Are you sorry that you didn't choose him?"

"Of course not!" she denied vehemently. Once Oz relaxed again, Buffy continued, "Let's say for the sake of argument that I liked him more than you… So he and I get closer and closer over time until finally we take that step and have sex," she stated bluntly– something she could thank her Halloween persona for; she could talk to her boyfriend about sex without blushing…much. "What if that was what gave him his moment? How could I kill somebody I cared enough about to give my virginity to? Hopefully I'd be able to do it, but I shudder to think of what it would do to me afterward."

"Maybe it wouldn't have happened," he offered, feeling magnanimous now that he knew she would have picked him anyway.

Buffy just shook her head, "But the risk would always be there – even if we didn't know about it." She shook her head, "No, I made the smart choice with you. Not only do you treat me like we're equals, I don't have to worry about some stupid curse."

"Just my wolf," he retorted.

"But that isn't the same thing. I'll take furry over fangy any day," she declared.

Oz chuckled at her comment and teased, "You _do_ realize I have fangs when I change, don't you?"

"Shush. You're ruining my tender sentiment," Buffy pouted before leaning in to give him a kiss.

A/N: As much as you might want this to continue, I'm gonna have to stop the story here. There's too many other fics that need attention right now. Maybe Musie will prod me to add more later, but I can't make any promises.


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